madnovel Chapter 14 Splin Detective Agency
Chapter 14 Splin Detective Agency
Lucius followed Reyner through a side passage, which was much narrower than the main corridor, allowing only two people to walk side by side. Every few steps along the wall hung a low-flame gas lamp.
Reina turned right at the end of the corridor and stopped in front of a door.
The purple door had a key drawn on it in an unknown black paint.
"Bishop Reina, what is this?" Lucius asked in confusion.
Reina didn't answer him, but pointed to the door in front of him and said:
"Child, push it aside and go to the second floor of 19 Sprin Street across the street. That will be your answer."
Sprin Street... Lucius retrieved information about this street from the original owner's memories. It was the dividing line between the east and west of Hull City; to the east lay the neat and presentable urban area.
Heading west reveals a completely different scene: densely packed cheap apartment buildings, street vendors hawking inferior goods, and unemployed youths loitering on street corners.
From his residence on Prince Avenue to Sprin Street, one needs to cross three main streets and then the entire Central Park and Botanical Garden to reach the destination.
St. Audrey's Church is located in the North District, which is even further from Sprin Street.
"Mystical methods?" Lucius could only guess.
He took a deep breath, touched the door in front of him, and Bishop Reina's voice came from behind him:
May the flames of the forge in broad daylight shine upon you.
Before Lucius could reply, he found himself suddenly standing amidst a sea of blood the moment the door opened completely.
A long, drawn-out whistle came from the left. Lucius looked in the direction of the sound and saw a steam tram speeding past on the tracks less than fifty meters to his left.
He came to his senses and confirmed his location: this was the East End, the eastern section of Sprin Street, near the tram loop line.
A vendor shouted as he passed by, and in the apartment building next door, several women were talking to each other through clothes drying on the second floor windows.
The aroma of fried fish oil, the fresh fragrance of boiled cabbage, and the salty sea breeze blowing in from the harbor.
These elements mix together to create an unrepeatable atmosphere unique to Sprin Street.
Lucius turned around; behind him was the public restroom, from which he was emerging.
"It's not scientific, but it's very mysterious."
Lucius commented that he stood outside the bathroom door, looking around to confirm his location.
On the right is a fish shop with only half of its sign remaining, and on the left is a four-story apartment building with graffiti covering its exterior walls.
Across the street, the house numbers were arranged in order: number 15 was a pawnshop, and number 17 was a secondhand goods store with its doors and windows tightly locked, with several sacks filled with some unknown items piled up in front of it.
As for number 19, it was a three-story brick and wood building with a red exterior, but it had been stained grayish-black by years of coal smoke.
Lucius crossed the street, walked around a cart that was blocking the road, pushed open the iron gate on the ground floor of number 19, and entered the dimly lit foyer.
The gas lamps in the stairwell were not lit; only a faint glow of blood seeped in through the skylight.
He climbed the wooden stairs to the second floor, where there was only one door with a brass-framed "GG" sign on it.
"Sprin Detective Agency".
Lucius took a step forward, his fingers about to touch the door, when he was interrupted by the arguing coming from inside.
"I think you're arrogant, cold, and look down on people!"
It was a woman's voice, and as soon as she finished speaking, the door was suddenly pulled open from the inside.
The doorknob nearly hit Lucius's nose, and he instinctively took a step back, watching a woman in a long white dress walk quickly past him.
She was in her early twenties, with dark chestnut curly hair pulled back and an angry blush on her face. In the blink of an eye, she disappeared around the corner of the stairs.
Lucius stood frozen in place, his hand still in the position of knocking on the door, when he saw another person walk out from inside.
This was a tall man in his early thirties, wearing a well-tailored dark gray three-piece suit. He had a typical Horn aristocratic oval face with a straight and prominent nose.
From the tips of her shoes to the ends of her hair, she exuded an air of refined elegance, as if she had been carefully nurtured by her family's wealth for over three generations.
He seemed to want to chase after him to explain something; one foot had already stepped out of the threshold, his lips were slightly parted, and his right hand unconsciously stretched forward a few inches.
But upon seeing Lucius standing at the door, he withdrew his outstretched hand mid-air and put it into his suit trouser pocket.
"Is there something you need?"
The man's tone was cold, unconsciously carrying a sense of condescension.
The lady wasn't wrong... Lucius maintained his smile, took Felix's epaulettes from his pocket, and said:
"Bishop Reiner of St. Audrey's Church told me that I would find the answer I was looking for here."
"Felix?" the man said, frowning, stepping aside and making room in the doorway.
"Come in. The captain and the others haven't returned yet; you can wait a while if you'd like."
Lucius stepped across the threshold into the room, which was a much more spacious drawing room than he had imagined from the outside.
Bookshelves stood on the left and right sides of the entrance, crammed with books and newspapers.
Directly opposite is a dark green velvet sofa, with several cork armchairs next to it, and a glass coffee table in the center with several white ceramic teacups on it.
"My name is Charles Williams." The man closed the door and sat down in the cork chair, his posture upright and composed.
Lucius also introduced himself and his identity, and he noticed a pattern:
Charles, who always maintained a sense of class distance, only listened to a few more words when Charles pointed out his identity as a "history student at East York University".
The two chatted casually about each other's bottom lines.
Lucius tried to subtly inquire about the detective agency's internal structure, number of members, and job duties, but all he received were sophisticated ambiguities and precise deflections.
"She's really tight-lipped," Lucius remarked.
The sound of the door opening again ended this polite tug-of-war, and Lucius and Charles both looked towards the doorway.
Felix and his group entered with grim faces.
"It seems the capture attempt failed." This thought popped into Lucius's mind, and he quickly stepped forward to confirm.
"Officer Felix, have you found any trace of Professor Marcus?"
"Lucius!?" Oliver answered first, his gloom vanishing, his tone filled with surprise. "Does finding this place mean you've already decided to join us?"
Felix's expression softened somewhat. He nodded to Lucius, first instructing Oliver and Miles to compile a summary report of the operation, then turned to Charles, frowning as he asked:
"Isn't Eleanor here?"
Charles's eyes flickered as he glanced at Lucius before replying:
"Just now, an ordinary person asked her to look for a cat."
Felix didn't say much, but sighed at Lucius:
"This arrest attempt failed. Come to my office to discuss the details."
Lucius wasn't too disappointed; he followed Felix through a small door on one side of the drawing room.
The two walked up the stairs to the third floor, and after passing a landing, they came into view a corridor and eight large doors.
The first six doors are normal wooden doors, only the last two doors are completely different from the first six.
They are the same as the door I saw in the Church of St. Audrey, with a purple background and a key pattern painted on it in the same black paint.
"Come in."
Felix took the key out of his pocket and opened the first door.